An Outline of INPA

Starting the program:-

When working with INPA and other diagnostic programs, I find it useful to establish a routine, this ensures consistency and
avoids encountering otherwise unexplained faults as well as establishing a level playing field for conducting comparisons
between functions of different software. As has been reiterated throughout the various forums, one of the major contributors to
diagnostic failures is low or failing voltage. Most diagnostic software requires the ignition of the vehicle under test to be switched
on, with the engine not running. This requires the battery of the test vehicle to be in good condition and fully charged, which
can be difficult to verify due to the number of variables, so connecting a good charger to your car (after verifying that all fuses
and relays are in good condition) before you start is good insurance against a diagnostic failure. A commonly used alternative
which I also use on occasions involves running the engine during a diagnostic so that the alternator keeps the battery topped
up, but connection of a charger is far and away the best method. Bear in mind that some software can take 30 minutes or more
to complete a diagnostic test, so relying solely on the battery to maintain sufficient voltage for the entire course of the diagnosis
can be a big ask.

After preparing the car, the next step is to start your computer and INPA, then connect the interface to your car.

I am using Windows XP, SP3, so unless you have created a shortcut to INPA on your desktop, you will have to choose the
appropriate program from the Start menu. As you can see from the screenshot, when you open the EDIABAS, INPA, ELDI,
NCS, NFS program group, there are a myriad of choices. Since we are interested in running INPA for diagnostics, choose the
INPA Loader program (INPA (_IPO)) option.
Once the program has started, connect your cables and interface to the car and you will see the home screen displayed as per
the following screenshot:-
Assuming the interface is working correctly, the battery and ignition indicators should be filled in as per the next screen shot,
indicating that the interface is ready to communicate with the car. In this case I will be working with a Euro-spec E36 328i
coupe and an ADS interface. To view the options for this particular car I will need to hold down the Shift key and press F5 (for
old models) to view the available modules. The screen looks like this when I mouse onto Engine and I select the MS41.0
DME for the M52 engine of the 328i:-

:-

After choosing the appropriate DME, INPA offers the following options:-
Pressing the F1 key displays information about the DME fitted to my car:-
Hmm interesting but not very useful, so I return to the DME main menu by pressing the F10 key, and press the F2 key to
display more identification particulars, including the week and year of manufacture and software version before again pressing
F10 to return to the DME main menu,
The F3 key displays coding data, including the VIN number and exact date of manufacture of the car under test.
Return to the DME main screen by again pressing the F10 key the next function keys are the real business end of INPA and
will provide some insight into just how comprehensive and powerful it is as a diagnostic tool. Pressing the F4 key displays the
error memory screen and gives options for reading and clearing stored error codes from the DME, as well as resetting fuel trim
adaptation values.
The next option from the DME main menu screen is the F5 key, which allows viewing of the status of the various sensors the
DME uses there is even provision for measuring the roughness of the engine. Naturally the engine needs to be running whilst
we view live data.
The next function key from the DME main menu relates to activation of individual components, allowing you to individually verify
that they are functioning correctly. The F6 key displays 3 sub-menus for the E36, they are simply labelled Acivate 1, Activate
2 and Activate 3. The first of these Activate 1 contains options for testing the fuel injectors:-

Activate 2 has options for testing various relays and emission components:-
The last option activate 3 relates to the evaporative and secondary air systems.
-
The F7 key provides options for reading the memory whilst the F8 key just allows you to choose which screen elements to
display. Since I have not bothered to connect INPA to a printer, I dont use the F9 key, so all that remains is the F10 key, which
as explained earlier, exits the system.
The chassis selection for the E36 deals only with the ABS, system, but the Body Control module presents a far broader
selection of options, and is where options to reset the service indicator may be found:-
Resetting the Service indicator:-

Since this is only intended as a brief introduction to INPA and each choice leads to more menus, with similar relationships to
their parent modules as those described for the DME, I chose the Instrument Cluster option, as this the module which must be
accessed in order to accomplish resetting of the service interval.
The F6 key is the one we need to use to access this function but as you can see the menu offers other activation (testing
functions) for the instrument cluster module. Since the E36 does not have a Service Computer, the F2 key is the only key that
will reset the service interval for the E36:-
The program is exited by returning to the main screen using the F10 key, or by holding down the Shift key whilst you press F10
to exit the entire program.

A useful feature of INPA v3.01 was the Special Tests function, accessed by holding down the Shift key whilst pressing F8. If
you are unsure of the particulars of the modules fitted to your car, the Special Tests option will conduct a search of your cars
modules and determine their designation automatically. It also provides a means of reading and clearing error codes stored in
all of the cars modules at once rather than requiring a dedicated test for each one. Unfortunately this function is not included in
later versions of the software pity.